


Shadowfall

by DargonWolfeh



Series: An Apex Story [4]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Cryptson, Miraith - Freeform, Rating is really for the gore and some explicit words, Some shipping but it's not the focus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-01-22 23:02:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21310063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DargonWolfeh/pseuds/DargonWolfeh
Summary: Mirage is suddenly thrown back in Kings Canyon, except everything's a little...Off...
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Wattson | Natalie Paquette, Mirage | Elliott Witt/Wraith | Renee Blasey
Series: An Apex Story [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1528175
Comments: 16
Kudos: 79





	1. The Night Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Headcanons: https://sta.sh/2f8o037mllw?edit=1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Mos-sseuge mandeulda: "Fuck"  
Gidalyeo: "Hold on"  
Ttong: "Shit"  
Babogadoeji ma: "Don't be an idiot"

Three gunshots echoed across the empty night sky, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground. Hard.

Mirage fell back against the wall and slid down, letting out a long hiss as he held on to his shoulder, trying to stop the blood from his bullet wound from spurting out. His breathing was ragged, but he was alive. The same couldn't be said for the legend before him; his body was face to the ground and crumpled over his gun, the very gun that would've easily killed Mirage in one shot had he not pulled out his own Wingman right in time.

He literally had no idea what was going on or how he even got there. On moment he was he was in New Dawn, under fire from another squad and terribly unsure of whether or not he was going to make it out of that fight. Wraith and Pathfinder were far from him at the time, trying to pressure the team away from him but ultimately failing when another team snuck up around them instead. So when Mirage saw a nearby portal who's origins he was unsure of, he didn't bother to think twice.

And now here he was, stuck in quite possibly an even worse situation with absolutely no health kits or shield batteries, bleeding profusely from his arm.

For some reason he was back in Kings Canyon. Or at least, it looked like Kings Canyon. It was dark, but not the usual night time dark. It was an eerie, chilling sort of dark. Something wasn't right about it, and something certainly wasn't right about Kings Canyon either.

The moment Mirage had stepped through the portal, after the initial shock of noticing that he wasn't even remotely in the same area anymore, he recognized that he had stepped foot into Cage- one of his lesser favorite named locations in Kings Canyon. Everything he once had on him: his shield, his heals, his attachments, and all his other supplies had gone missing. All he had left on him was his gun, which thankfully he had when that other guy showed up out of nowhere ready to kill him on sight.

Footsteps from around the corner forced him out of his thoughts. He pushed himself a little straighter against the wall, grunting in the process as his holo devices began to give off a blue light. A hologram formed before him, a perfect replica of himself save for the arm, which wasn't bleeding out like his own. He sent it forward, hoping to attract the attention of whoever was coming toward it instead of himself. Maybe he'd be able to take them out before they got the chance to notice him.

That hope died when a bullet whizzed through the decoy's head and it instantly disappeared.

Slow footsteps rounded the corner, causing Mirage to inwardly panic as he tried to force himself up, pushing himself against the wall and hissing when the searing pain in his shoulder worsened. He couldn't fight like this. His good arm was the one that was injured, and right now he could barely keep his hand from shaking, let alone aim at anyone with it.

"Did you really think I would fall for that, old man?" Mirage's legs weakened and he let himself slide back to the ground and let his head fall back against the wall. Of course it was him.

Of course it was that fucking kid.

"Came to finish me off?" Mirage huffed as Crypto stood before him, looking down at him with that cold, empty look he always gave everyone. Crypto was one of the opposing team members who had been shooting at him shortly before he entered the portal. He must have followed him.

"I was at first. Do you have heals?" When Mirage shook his head, Crypto knelt reached behind him to sling his pack before him and rummage through, taking only a few moments before pulling out a syringe. "Here."

"Thanks," Mirage took it without question, pushing the needle into him just below the wound and instantly feeling the pain begin to subside.

"Something's wrong here," Crypto said as he stood back up, glancing at the doors and shoving his hands back in his pockets.

"I'll say. That guy almost killed-" Mirage gestured to the body on the ground- or at least, where the body once was. All that was left was a gun and a body shield in its place.

Suddenly, Crypto's eyes widened as a small beep sounded from his transmitter. Mirage had been on his team enough times to learn that that meant his drone had just detected an enemy- and that enemy was nearby.

A chill suddenly tore through the both of them. Mirage could literally see his breath escape from his mouth in a small, white cloud. There was a noise outside- like tons of people whispering, except the whispers were somehow loud, and getting louder.

"What the-"

CRASH!

The door Crypto was watching suddenly shattered, causing the whispering to rise an octave and for them to shudder from the intense cold. Now standing in place of the door was a strange, almost human figure. Its body consisted of shadowy wisps, constantly shifting under the bright-lights shining down on its back, and a pair of glowing, blood red eyes that could rival Bloodhound's beastly ones. In intense aura of hatred and anger resonating from its core as it stared them down with empty eyes.

There was only a moment of hesitation before the shadow darted straight for Crypto, and in the blink of an eye his back was slammed into the ground. The creature lifted one of its claw-like hands, swinging it back so far that its body contorted awkwardly before it slammed right back down into Crypto- who moved his head aside just enough to avoid a fatal blow, but not enough to avoid nearly getting his arm ripped off.

He let out a restrained cry as its claw dug into his shoulder, his gun falling from his hand as the shadow hoisted him into the air and tossed him to the side. He hit the ground hard, far from it as it let out a roar in his direction before shifting its empty, menacing gaze toward Mirage instead.

And Mirage immediately recognized him as the legend he had just killed.

"What the hell!?" It swung at him, but he just barely managed to lean back out of reach, avoiding nearly having his head sliced off.

It shrieked, then tried to swing again, but this time Mirage managed to push himself off the ground and drive his shoulder into its body instead, forcing it to fall back as he tried to gain his own footing. His bad shoulder still hurt, but the bullet hole was gone and moving it hurt significantly less. He pulled up his gun and aimed at it, steadying his hand and shooting it point blank just as it tried to speed toward him again.

It instantly disappeared, and Mirage let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Mos-sseuge mandeulda!" Crypto almost screamed from the ground.

He was on his back, his face scrunched up in absolute agony as he clawed at his arm- most of which barely looked connected. The gash in his shoulder was massive, so massive that blood was still leaking out of it at an alarming rate, staining the white of his jacket and the floor around him.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Mirage holstered his gun and slid over to him, hesitating before bunching up a piece of Crypto's bloodied jacket and pressing it against the open wound, causing him to hiss out in pain.

"What are you doing!" The hacker was thrown off when Mirage pried his other hand away from the wound and started to pull his jacket off, accidentally digging his hand a little deeper into the wound in the process.

"I'm trying to keep you alive so stop fucking moving!" Mirage finally managed to pull his sleeve off, despite his struggling, and lifted him slightly so he could pull it out from under his back and wrap it over his shoulder. He wrapped it as tightly as he could, making an awkward knot that would hopefully hold out before going to the legend's other side and trying to help him up.

"Come on, we gotta move, now," He slung Crypto's arm over his shoulder and hoisted him to his feet, ignoring his pained grunt as he stumbled and tried to keep his footing.

"Gidalyeo! I can walk, idiot! You're going too fast!" Crypto tried to pull his arm back, but Mirage was moving too fast and he was losing the ability to focus on more than just keeping himself standing. He let out a higher pitched grunt, trying to hide his evident pain but failing rather miserably, "Slow down!"

"We can't," Mirage's arm was around the smaller legend's waist, keeping him held up while his other arm held him over his shoulder as they shuffled toward the door, "There's aren't any heals here and he could come back any second!"

"Come back?" The ferocity in Crypto's voice was beginning to drain, and when Mirage looked down at him, he could see that the color in his face was beginning to do the same. He was losing too much blood.

"That, th-th-that thing! That was the guy that I killed before you showed up! It looked exactly like him, and he came back-"

"He came back for revenge," Crypto grimaced, and he stumbled, leaning more of his weight onto Mirage. His breathing was beginning to get heavier, and the blood was still flowing, although a little slower at the very least. He wasn't going to make it at this rate though.

"C'mon kid, stay with me," Mirage had to shake him when his head began to droop, effectively getting him to lift it back up for a moment and blink a few times. His hand twitched, like he wanted to move it, but he barely had the strength to even try. They managed to shuffle their way Southward, toward the small area that opened into Hydro Dam.

They were at the bottom of the stairs when that same chill came back.

"Ttong," Glowing blood red eyes watched them from afar, as well as another three pairs not far behind it. Where in the world did they come from? How did they even know they were there?

Mirage ever so slowly set Crypto on the stairs. The shadows didn't seem very interested in moving, but they watched him with their burning red gaze, twitching and bouncing like they could barely hold their wrath. It was almost like they were hold back. Or maybe waiting for him to make the first move.

"Don't do whatever you're thinking, old man," Crypto growled, although his voice was so weak it hardly sounded threatening.

"They already know we're here," Mirage pulled out his gun, catching the attention of the shadows. They twitched back, but didn't step down. Their hostile aura grew. "I bet there's heals inside if you can move."

"Babogadoeji ma!" The hacker yelled with as much energy as he could muster up. He tried to push himself up on his good arm, but ended up falling back against the stairs and letting out a weak, pained breath of air. He lost way too much blood and both of them knew it.

The shadows moved in unison. Two came straight for Mirage from the front, while the other two dashed off to the sides and almost out of eyesight. There was no way he was going to be able to take on all of them, not with his arm still shaking and the speed the were charging at him. Still he held it up, aiming with one hand and using the other to steady it. Maybe he could at least take out most of them. Maybe he could at least keep them off of Crypto long enough for him to try and psyche himself back up.

He pulled the trigger.

He shot four bullets, but only two of them hit their targets.

The shadows off to his sides dashed at him, ferocious and hungry for the kill. He turned toward one of them, trying to reload his gun with shaky hands but not moving fast enough. Its hand, swift and slicing through the air like a blade, was at his face in moments.

A bullet whizzed through the shadow's head just as it was about to collide with him, and it disappeared instantly. Another bullet whizzed behind him, and he heard a small screech as the shadow behind him died as well.

Relief washed over him so hard that he had to catch himself when he felt his balance go haywire. He almost fell, but something slid before him and caught him by wrapping their arms around his waist and pushing into his chest. His face pressed against a dark, soft bun of hair, and he instantly recognized who was holding him.

"Renee," He breathed out, quietly, sounding a little like a quiet laugh as he wrapped his shaking arms around her. The smaller legend let out a sigh of relief, gripping him tightly as she pressed her forehead against his chest.

"Why would you run toward the dark shadow monsters instead of away? I thought you were about to die," She said, and he let out another, more audible, chuckle.

"I don't think I like your lack of faith in me," She looked up at him then, giving him a glare, but a light one.

One that was glad he could even make her glare in the first place.

"Watcha backs! We still in tha open!" Lifeline was catching up to them from a distance further back from where Wraith slid in, and Mirage thought he could see another figure coming in from a little further back.

"Oh thank goodness," Doc was already out and whirring around Mirage by the time she caught up to them, finding whatever areas he needed the most care in. He was about to turn so he'd have better access to his arm, but then his memory suddenly sparked and he nearly pushed Wraith away in the heat of the moment.

"Crypto!" He burst out, causing Doc to let out a little noise of surprise and for the tubes he was about to connect to him to recede. "He's hurt! He's really badly hurt!"

And badly hurt he was. By the time Mirage led them over to where Crypto was, the hacker was barely even breathing. He was struggling to keep his eyes open, and his mouth moved like he was trying to say something, but nothing was coming out. Doc went to work immediately, pulling his jacket away and connecting his tubes around the wound in his shoulder and slowly sealing them back up. Lifeline was right beside Doc, sterilizing and inserting a needle into the hacker's arm that was connected to one of the blood packs on her front side.

"Oof, Nat's not gonna like seein dis," Lifeline muttered, so low that Mirage almost missed it. Mirage didn't even get the chance to ask before a terrified gasp and something dropping on the ground sounded behind him.

"CRYPTO!" Wattson screeched, and she was at the side with his good arm in moments. Her arms wrapped around his neck and Mirage could see the pain shoot through his eyes at the explosive movement, but instead of pushing her away or saying something (like he expected), he just slung his arm over her and buried his face into her shoulder and sighed.

That was... unexpected.

"I'm fine," He grunted into her as she cried. She was shaking uncontrollably, clinging to him despite Lifeline telling her to tone it down before she accidentally killed him. He was attempting to sit up despite his weakness, trying to get a better position to hug her back in without putting too much strain on his other arm. It was a strange sight, Crypto hugging. If he didn't know better Mirage would've thought they were-

His thought was cut short when she grabbed both sides of his face and planted a deep kiss on his lips.

Considering the deep blush that formed on his otherwise colorless cheeks, as well as the way his hand seemed to have conflicting feelings on whether or not he wanted to pull her closer or push her away, Mirage had a feeling he wasn't supposed to see this happening. So, out of courtesy, he turned and looked at Wraith instead.

"So wonderful weather we're having here, right?" Mirage could almost feel the energy of her wanting to smack her hand to her face after that disappointing comment, but she played along anyway, especially since she had been staring in surprise as well.

"I think someone took over the game we were in and somehow we ended up back in Kings Canyon," She looked up at the eerie night sky and watched as a glowing green flier watched them from its perch, nibbling on whatever dead thing it picked up off the ground. "Some version of Kings Canyon at least."

"Someone? What do you mean someone?"

As if on queue, there was the sound of a demonic bell chime, and suddenly Mirage could see the red outline of the ring slowly materialize at the edge of the map, already rapidly closing its way around them. He could also see streaks of red soaring through the sky, and more quickly shooting from the sky after them.

"Ring's comin for ya," A voice came through his intercom, and by the looks on everyone's faces, it came through theirs as well. The streaks of red angled themselves away from the ring, speeding straight toward them instead. "One word,

Run.


	2. You Can't Keep the Dead Asleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ring is closing.
> 
> Better run.

"He was trying to lead them away from us but they were so much faster than him,"

Once Crypto's arm was patched up and he was able to walk, they quickly made their way toward Hydro Dam, and on their way down the stairs to the darkened depths within, Mirage had asked how everyone even got there.

Lifeline and Wattson were on a team with Octane, and they were lucky enough to all take the same portal and end up in the same place somewhere a little more Northbound than Cage. The extra shadows that almost got to Mirage and Crypto were the same ones that got Octane before they managed to kill them.

"I never thought anything could outrun him," Wraith said from Mirage's side.

Wraith was somewhat luckier in comparison to everyone else. They immediately noticed when Mirage's transmitter cut off, and not much longer after that, Path had tried to escape from the teams they were sandwiched between by taking what he thought was Wraith's portal. That was when they ended up separated, and Wraith didn't end up in King's canyon until moments later when she tried slipping into the void herself- only to end up on the edge of Cliffside with nothing but a prowler.

"We did too," Lifeline seemed particularly hurt about the subject. Normally she'd be talking about various ways she would have preferred to kill him herself, but instead she was generally staying out of the conversation, notably keeping her eyes on the ground and glancing around occasionally. "So them shadows are dead legends?"

"It appears to be so," Despite being able to walk, Crypto was still fairly weak after losing most of his blood. So Wattson was close to his side, letting him lean some weight on her whenever he started to slow down. It was strange seeing him so... touchy. Or at least touchy for him. Mirage found himself needing to glance away every time the hacker cast a nervous glance in his direction. Both of them knew Mirage was definitely going to be asking about them later.

They reached the bottom of the stairs, turning around the fenced corner and splitting across the room to check for any hostiles- making sure they didn't leave earshot of each other. Crypto ended up having to sit down and catch his breath, so Wattson stayed by him as Lifeline checked behind closed doors for supplies. Mirage and Wraith scouted around the larger doors toward the front of the building, checking outside the windows and looking around the bottom floor.

"Looks safe enough for now. Maybe we can spend the night- uh, rest of the night here." Mirage glanced outside again, noticing the lack of a moon in the foggy night sky. Was it even night? What if it stayed dark like this the whole time? How long were they going to be there anyway?

What was even going on?

"Those shadows can break down doors like they're nothing. If they find us we'll be sitting ducks," Wraith's eyes were focused on the outside, almost squinting at something far- possibly over ins Swamps.

"What, these bad boys?" Mirage tapped the metal door with the back of his knuckle, causing a rather loud and hollow echo to resonate in the room, earning him a glare from Wraith. His smile turned sheepish for a moment, but he continued anyway, "I bet these would break their wrists if they tried anything."

"I don't think I want to test that," She said. Her eyes were unmoving, but Mirage could see the tension in them. She was gripping her gun tightly, holding it down at her side with both hands and ready to pull it up at a moment's notice. She didn't even glance at him when he moved closer to her, reaching out to place a hand on her arm and give give it a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

"What is it?"

She placed her hand on top of his, finally pulling her eyes away from the window and closing them.

"I'm..." She opened her eyes again, "I'm really worried about Path."

"That smiling robot?" Mirage holstered his gun and brought his other hand up to cup her cheek, "I'm sure he's fine, he probably already made friends with a few of em anyway."

That brought a small smile to her face, which in turn made him smile back at her. Of course, he was deeply worried for his friend, but he knew how to hold his own in a fight. In fact, the shadows were probably the ones that needed to be worried about him finding them first.

Mirage let the hand on her arm slide down until it was at her wrist, taking her gun from her hands and holstering it for her. He brushed his thumb against her cheek, letting his other hand slide to her waist and pull her against him. Her arms wrapped around him as she turned her head and lay it on his chest, letting out a breath of air as she relaxed ever so slightly against him.

The moment was nice. But it was short.

"Someone destroyed my drone," Crypto's irritant voice echoed in the silence. Everyone's guns were out in moments.

Crypto had left his drone just above the door they had come in from at the top of the stairs, which he had hoped was out of sight and would be able to catch whoever decided to come in. By the sound of it, he didn't even get a chance to see them before they destroyed it.

And by the sound of the commotion upstairs, there was more than just one or two people.

There was gunfire, and shouting, and screaming as monstrous sounds tore through the darkness and chilled them to their cores. There was a cry, and slashing, and more gunfire, followed by bones breaking and thermites going off.

Mirage and Wraith were on either side of the stairs, guns aimed upward and watching for anything that may come down. Lifeline and Wattson were on the other side of the metal fence, watching the stairs through the chain link and standing between it and Crypto, who also had his gun out and ready to shoot at whatever potential harm may come through.

After the last gunshot went off, and the final dying call of possibly the fourth of a group of shadows, there was silence.

Then, there was sobbing.

Mirage looked over at Wraith, who nodded, and the both of them slowly began to climb the stairs. Mirage gestured for the others to stay back as they climbed up, fingers on their triggers and ready to fire the moment danger should arise.

Wraith moved ahead of him, stalking up the last few steps and pausing just short of the ledge at the top. She glanced down at Mirage, who stopped just a couple steps down from her, before slowly peeking her head up to survey the scene.

Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened in a silent gasp before she crouched back down and looked away. Mirage saw the look of horror strewn across her face before taking another step up and peeking over the ledge as well.

It was a ghastly sight. There was a woman with her back facing them, bloodied and sobbing uncontrollably as her hands worked on a bloodied lump before her. It was a body, the torso of one at least. Their limbs were in pieces all around the room; a hand in one corner, the broken piece of possibly a shin far from where it was supposed to be, a pair of arms ripped and contorted to a near unrecognizable state. It looked like the aftermath of a horror movie, except this one was actually happening, and Mirage nearly hurled at the side.

The sound he made grabbed the woman's attention, and she immediately whirled around and shot blindly in his direction, nearly blasting his head off with her peacekeeper. He managed to duck just in time, the bullet just barely missing his hair as his back hit the stairs and Wraith braced herself for the worst.

"Mirage!? Wraith!?"A couple of voices simultaneously shouted from downstairs, but he couldn't quite tell who's was who's. Even though he wasn't point blank range, his head still span from the sudden motion combined with the loud echo of the bullet whizzing past him and blasting a hole into the chain link fence instead.

The woman's sobbing didn't stop, but it at least seemed to calm a bit.

"M-Mirage? Wraith? As in the legends?" He heard heavy metal hit the floor. Was it her gun? "You're alive? Who else is there?"

"Lifeline, Wattson, and Crypto," Wraith said, not showing herself and instead reaching over to brush some of Mirage's hair out of his face to get a good look at him.

"Are you alright?" She whispered. He nodded, slowly rolling onto his stomach and letting out a breath of air he didn't realize he was holding.

By the time Wraith pulled him to his feet, Lifeline had already made it to the top of the stairs and the woman had begun sobbing into her hands again. She was facing them this time, on her knees and hunched into her hands as her shoulders shook from the heavy tears she tried to stop. She was wearing a dark leather jacket that was zipped to the top, a large pair of black headphones rested around her neck, and a pair of light-colored, form-fitting pants with black combat boots. Now that he was taking a closer look, Mirage could see there was a symbol on her shoulder, and he recognized it immediately.

"Technocrat?" Wraith actually beat him to the question. She let her hands drop, revealing her scarred and bloodied face, the glasses she usually wore were fractured in one less, and the other was cracked horizontally straight through the center.

"What's happening?" She cried as Lifeline climbed onto her floor with open arms, allowing the tech whiz to crawl into her embrace.

"Somethin terrible, that's for sho," The medic made an effort to not look at the gruesome scene on the floor, but Mirage could see the repulsed grimace she made as she slowly shuffled her way back to the stairs.

"Those things ripped him apart!" She cried again, "We barely even heard them coming before they pounced on him and tore his head off!"

No one could find an answer for her. No one knew why they were there. No one knew what was going to happen. They weren't even sure what they were supposed to be doing.

As Lifeline tossed Doc out to let him patch up Techno's injuries, Mirage's mind began to race with questions.

What were they supposed to be doing? Were the games being hijacked by some outside party? What was their goal? Was this some sick game to them? Were they all supposed to just wait around until they're picked off by shadows? Could the shadows even think for themselves?

Would death by a shadow be permanent? Were they going to be able to come back?

That familiar chill came back again, visibly making everyone shiver. This time it was stronger, much stronger. Mirage could already hear the screeching whispers of the shadows by the time more pairs of blood red eyes appeared. This time, there were even more of them. Mirage counted at least six pairs in his quick state of panic before Techno let out a shriek of terror, causing all of the shadows to recoil from the sound.

They seemed hesitant to attack, opting only to loom at the doorways and stare the group down.

Mirage recognized the shape of a couple of the shadows. One of them was the legend Mirage had killed early on. The other was much bigger, and bulkier. His body was barely distinguishable from his armor, but Mirage recognized the familiar ball of hair sitting atop his head, even if shadowy wisps were trailing off of it.

"No. Makoa..." Lifeline's voice shook as her grip on Techno tightened. She almost froze in place, but when the heads of the shadows snapped in her direction, she immediately began shifting back toward the stairs.

Gibraltar's shadow was twitchy, and uncharacteristically aggressive looking. Yet, of all the shadows, he seemed the most hesitant to move. One of his hands were gripping the door, and every time he twitched forward, his death defining grip tightened, and he pulled himself back. Was Gibraltar still in there? Or was he simply playing it smart like the rest of the shadows, who seemed uninterested in taking bullets to the head. Why did that matter anyway? They could come back like it's nothing. Maybe it still hurt them?

Maybe they're in pain now?

"Elliot."

It had just occurred to him that the other legends were already heading down the stairs, and he was still staring at the shadows, most of which were still watching and moving closer ever so slowly, while some had disappeared without him even noticing.

He slunk back down the stairs, slowly, careful not to turn his back on them as they slowly entered the room, both parties not wanting to aggravate the other despite their twitchy movements and trigger fingers. The peacekeeper had to be abandoned, as well as the indiscernible body of whoever Techno's teammate was. They weren't going to waste bullets on the shadows if they didn't need to, especially if they were going to keep coming back as frequently as they were doing. How did they keep finding them anyway? It made sense one or to of them simply kept coming back, but more? Could they communicate with each other?

Or was it something else?

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the shadows were peering down at the from the top with those hateful red eyes. Crypto and Wattson were sitting near each other on a ledge before a large metal pump. Wattson's eyes were worriedly keeping an eye on the shadows, both her hands on her sniper and ready to shoot should one of them decide to move. Crypto's eyes, while occasionally glancing up at the shadows, were mostly focused on the newest addition to their group, and he didn't seem too thrilled about it.

"We're gonna need to get out of here at some point," Wraith said, watching the stairs as Lifeline helped Technocrat over besides Crypto (both parties noticeably very uncomfortable from their positions).

"Do you even know where to go?" Mirage asked as he glanced over at the larger doors on the other side of the building. Silvery white beams of moonlight filtered through the windows, wavering in the eerie darkness in an unnatural looking way.

"Our maps still seem to work. It looks like the ring is closing around Swamps." Mirage opened the digital mapping technology, letting the screen open up before his eyes. He was immediately met with mostly red, as the ring had covered almost half of the map, and the next ring was going to close in a few hours.

"We probably won't make it if those shadows keep following us. Swamps barely has any cover and we've already got one man down."

"I can still shoot." Crypto growled out. He seemed a little doubtful himself though, because he looked down at his injured hand and fleed his fingers, slightly wincing and stopping immediately. Mirage rolled his eyes.

"Barely, unless you're ombu-ambro, ambi... unless you're good with both your hands." He made his way over to the large doors on the other side and looked out the window.

There were more shadows.

"Shit."

Most of them were on the rooftops of the storage buildings, generally uninterested in their immediate location, but some were right by in front of the doors. Standing.

Watching.

Empty, blood red eyes honed in on him through the windows, keeping him in their sight, even when he shifted and took a few steps back.

"Uh, hey, I think they might be planning something!" Some of them were already standing at the windows by the time Mirage's back pushed up against someone else's. He glanced back, first noticing it was Wraith. Then noticing the rest of the group were either watching the same doors as him or the stairs behind him.

Then he noticed the significantly huge group of shadows crawling out of the darkness from the stairs.

"Anyone have any ideas?" The insecurity in Tech's voice was not the relieving thing Mirage was hoping to hear as the shadows forced the large doors before him open. The mix of roaring and growling, along with panicked breathing and his heartbeat in his ears was not at all anything Mirage wanted to hear.

"We have to run. Now or never. I don't think we have enough bullets for all of them," Crypto flinched when one of the shadows hissed in his direction, and he redirected his pistol in its direction.

"Your fences ready yet, Nat?" Ajay asked, quickly pointing her prowler at a shadow that was getting too close to her, effectively making it flinch back, even if only a little.

"They are but, I do not think they will hold them off."

"We don't need to hold them off, just slow them down." Wraith said, "I can make us a portal out of here, but I need someone to cover me, and we need to make sure they can't follow us immediately."

"I'll cover you," Mirage's holo devices were already beginning to glow, "I might be able to lead some away too."

"We'll cover Nat," Crypto glanced around, quickly surveying the area, "My drone is broken but I can still manually activate my emp blast if things get hectic. Hopefully that will be enough."

There was a moment of silence amongst the legends. The shadows roared, pushing closer as they hissed and snapped at them, waiting for them to make the first move- or until they could get close enough to do so instead.

It wasn't until one was finally right in front of Mirage, within grabbing range, looking at him with daring, demonic blood red eyes that bore into his soul, until he swallowed and let out a shaky breath.

"Now."

He pulled the trigger.

And all hell broke loose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry but I absolutely love cliffhangers and honestly, because of this, I'm not sure how many more chapters this is about to have.


	3. R U N

The sound of the bullet pierced through the noise from the shadows, as well as one of their heads. It disappeared instantly, but three more were already there to replace it.

He only just barely dodged one of their shadowy claws before he vanished, cloaked by his holosuit as a flurry of decoys sprung forward, some instantly disappearing when the shadows collided with them while the others blocked more shadows from getting to the others. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end just as a charge of electrical energy filled the room, and if Mirage hadn't made it out of the room in time, he'd probably have been hit by Crypto's EMP.

He made it out of the building without a scratch, kicking open the door and stumbling out just as streaks of purple zipped past him, and Wraith appeared before him in a flash of blue-ish purple light.

Sparks of energy crackled around her hands as she dashed ahead of him, faster than he could keep up with, but not faster than the shadows.

Two of them were hot on their trail. They sped past Mirage, on all fours, snarling and screaming and chasing after Wraith with murderous intent seeping from their cores. Mirage brought up his Wingman and fired, his bullet whizzing through one with ease, but missing the other by a hair.

The creature whirled around, snarling in his direction and slashing at him as his cloak phased away. He slid under it, just barely missing its claw as it hurled over him and drove its fist into the ground.

The shadow twisted, dust kicking up around its claws and ankles as it dug them into the ground and swiveled so that its eyes were back on Mirage in a fraction of a second. It let out a screeching roar, digging its claws into the ground and barreling toward him at inhuman speed. Mirage tried to pull his gun back up, but it slammed into him, knocking him clean off his feet before he hit the ground. Hard.

The blunt force of the attack literally knocked the air out of him. It was strong enough to send him skidding across the ground a few feet, tumbling from his back to his side and rolling, trying to regain his footing but failing because he could barely even focus after the blow. The shadow barely gave him a chance to grab his gun but it was on him again, pinning him to the ground with its unnatural strength. One of its claws shoved him firmly down, the other whipping back and ready to crush his skull in a single swipe.

It only managed to swing its claw back before the heel of Wraith's boot connected with its jaw.

The shadow disappeared instantly with a pained shriek, and Wraith reached her hand out to help hoist him up to his feet.

The sound of something coming through Wraith's portal drew Mirage's attention toward it just in time to see the white and green flash of Crypto's jacket as he flew through the portal and slid across the ground just before him. Dark red stained the front of his jacket, and for a second Mirage worried he was bleeding out again, but then he caught a glimpse of orange and blue in his arms, and even more red coming from it.

Now panic surged through Mirage as two more shadows burst through the portal, one of their faces dripping red from the mouth. Crypto turned so that he was between them and Wattson, who's face was half buried in his chest and her leg bleeding profusely from an alarmingly deep wound. Mirage barely had the chance to pull his gun up and aim before the portal sounded again, and this time it was Lifeline who tumbled through. One of his bullets whizzed through a shadow's head, while the back of Lifeline's gun collided with the other's.

Their dying shrieks echoed as a few more shadows appeared from the portal. Crypto managed to get Wattson far enough away from it to allow Wraith to slice at a couple of them, while Mirage shot the next few that followed through shortly after. Lifeline tried to shoot some herself, but there was only a click in response from her gun. She glared at it, and without a second thought, chucked it at the next shadow that came through, cursing her ammo situation.

"We're missing someone!" Mirage yelled over the monster's deathly roar. He peered through the portal's distorted surface, seeing the inside of Hydro Dam and the incredibly terrifying amount of shadows on the other side. Some of them seemed interested in making their way to the portal, but through the ripples in the void, Mirage could see that most of them had their their attention drawn to something loud- and it was shrieking.

"We left Chara!" Lifeline shouted, and now that he noticed it, the shrieking was most definitely her, and it most definitely was not a shriek of fear. One of the shadows had made it to the portal, and just as its arm breached through the entrance, the portal suddenly ceased from existence, effectively cutting off its arm- as well as Techno's screams.

Lifeline backed away from the severed arm, still twitching with its remaining demonic energy, before whirling on Wraith, who's phase tech was still crackling with dying void energy.

"What're ya doin? Chara's still back there!" She yelled, but Wraith was already backing away from where the portal was, taking hold of Mirage's arm and pulling him toward the others.

"There were too many of them. We have to go, now!" She shoved Mirage ahead of her, keeping him from looking back at Hydro Dam, where he could already see the increasing hoard of shadows beginning to fan out of the giant doors like a giant, living mass of evil looking darkness.

"Dammit Wraith, we coulda-" Mirage could see the fury that built in Lifeline's eyes suddenly ebb away at the sight of the wispy monsters making a beeline for them. "Shit..."

"Come on!" There was panic in her voice as Wraith now took hold of Lifeline's arm and pulled her forward. They didn't have time to process just how many shadows there were, how so many of them were appearing in so little time. Weren't they dead legends? Just how many were in this game? How do they KEEP finding them? Do they have memories? Do they even think? Do they-

Another shadow crawled up from the massive drop off by Hyrdo, nearly taking hold of Mirage's ankle had he not flinched away quick enough. Without so much as a second thought, he pointed his gun at its head and pulled the trigger.

Click.

"Fuck!" He kicked its face and it disappeared with a ghostly scream. But as he peered over the edge to check if more were on the way, several pairs of searing yellow eyes narrowed back at him through the shadows, honing in toward his direction as they crawled up the side of the wall.

Fighting the instinct to completely freeze up from the sight, Mirage jumped back, ending up with his back touching someone else's.

"I'm out of bullets!" He shouted, unsure if it was out of rising fear or the rising sound of incoming shadows.

"I'm nearly out!" Crypto shouted back from behind him.

This was bad. This was really really bad. There was no way they were going to be able to take on this many shadows at once with just their fists- not to mention they were coming back faster than they could all handle, and there was no telling how long this game was gonna go on. Was it even a game anymore? What the heck was going on?

Shadows were everywhere, surrounding them from every direction and crawling in from the darkness and over the cliffside. Dark, shadowy drool fell from their gaping mouths, like they were hungry, eager to tear them apart despite not actually eating them. Some of the snarled at Wattson, who was heavily leaning on Crypto and clutching her bleeding thigh, while others stalked around them, making small, threatening gestures in various attempts to get one of them to flinch. They didn't seem interested in attacking, not yet at least, and Mirage wondered why.

They were all so distracted by the shadows around them, that they almost didn't notice the one that was flying in overhead.

"Elliot!" Wraith stepped in to shove him out of the way, using her weight and her shoulder to shove him back before a screeching red and black shadow tackled her to the ground.

It moved fast, like it knew what it was doing, taking hold of the arm with her phase tech and squeezing it in its grip, crushing it and her arm almost instantly.

"F-MMPH!" Wraith muffled her own scream through clenched teeth as the kunai in her free hand ended up slipping from her grip and falling to the ground. The shadow snarled, shoving her crushed arm away and lifting its own clawed hands, ready to strike, to rip her apart.

"RENEE!" Mirage wasn't sure if it was him, or Crypto, or Lifeline, but whoever it was, caused the shadow to pause, to look up just for a second, and Mirage caught a glimpse of the broken, shadowy replica of glasses on the demon's face.

Then, he saw them fly off when a metal stake pierced through its skull and dug into the ground just by his feet.

Nobody, even the shadows apparently, moved a muscle for an entire two seconds in order to process what the fuck just happened.

Connected to the stake was a thick, yellow rope, which Mirage followed all the way to the very top of a nearby cliff, at the top of which he could see, very faintly, something blue, with a very tiny little box at its center with something yellow glowing within.

"It's Path!" Mirage shouted, sliding over to Wraith and pulling her up, taking care not to irritate her most likely broken arm as the others pushed closer to the end of the zip line, backs facing each other and fronts ready to fend off the shadows. One tried to strike at them, but it ended up disappearing completely when a thermite exploded before it, and all around them, all of which had come from Path's direction.

"Ajay, you first! Make sure Nat and Renee make it!" Mirage yelled. Through the evident pain showing in her face, Wraith tried to act exasperated by the demand, but Mirage didn't take the time to look at her as he shoved her toward the zip line. Wattson and Lifeline were already connected and making their way up to Pathfinder. The shadows screamed over the hiss of the thermites, stalking around waiting for the flames to go down.

"Go go!" Mirage yelled, waiting for Crypto to fire one of his last rounds before jumping on the zip line and letting it take him up, Mirage quickly following suit with Wraith in his arms.

The fires from the thermites went out just as the zip line took him off the ground, and the shadows snapped at his heels as he soared over their heads. For just a second, as he clung to Wraith and the zip line for dear life, he felt he could take a moment to breathe.

And then they started climbing the rope after them.

Mirage wasn't sure why he was so surprised. If they were smart enough to know how to open doors, then they were bound to be smart enough to know how to balance and chase after them on zip lines. He just wasn't anticipating they would move so fast, so damn fast he couldn't really think of much better of an idea than what he was about to do.

He used the hand he had on the zip line to keep himself facing forward and snatched Wraith's kunai from her belt, twisting around and using it to cut through the rope behind them in one motion. The shadows that had gained on them in the short time fell immediately, plummeting for the ground along with their half of the zip line.

The half they were on, however, ended up speeding for the cliffside, and it was only at that moment Mirage realized that probably wasn't a smart idea.

Mirage's back hit the wall, hard, and if he wasn't clutching Wraith so tightly he would've lost his grip on her. Crypto had hit the wall just a second before him, and Mirage could hear both of their zip line attachments whirring in an attempt to pull their weight up the rest of the way. Mirage disconnected his, letting himself fall the short distance down to a small ledge, and stepped aside to let Crypto fall beside him.

"Dodaeche, old man!" Crypto shouted as Mirage gently put Wraith down and let her lean back against the cliffside, nursing her arm. He didn't have the slightest clue what he said, but he could take a guess.

"They were chasing after us!" He said, looking over the edge, "I think we should be good for now, but we need to regroup with everyone before- FUCK!"

Just like from before, several pairs of searing yellow eyes were nearing in on them from below, the numbers multiplying by the second as the mass of shadows grew. One of them had made it all the way their ledge already, and Mirage had to kick it back before it could swipe at him.

"We can't stay here like this!"

"Yeah no shit, can't your drone hold them off again or something?"

"It barely did anything the last time, we would just slow them down."

"Sorry, friends!" The three of them turned to look up. Above them, close enough for them to not have to yell but far enough that they couldn't climb their way up, Pathfinder's head poked over the edge. The red of his optic was bright in the eerie moonlit darkness as it dilated with his speech, "My grapple was destroyed after I lost my weapon in my last battle, and my zip line needs time to recharge before it may be used again. Lifeline is already tending to Wattson's wounds. Are you in need of any medical supplies?"

"YES!" Wraith shouted before Mirage could, and it was only then he could actually see just how bad her arm looked, bent and hanging at an angle that looked unnatural for the human arm. Even if it wasn't completely bent out of shape, it still looked painful as hell.

"Help her out kid, I'll hold em off till we think of something!"

"Stop calling me kid!" Crypto caught the med kit Path tossed down knelt by Wraith, taking hold of her arm and accidentally making her hiss from the pain, "Mian haeyo. You can't take on all those things by yourself!"

"Just focus on helping her so we can figure something out!" Mirage shouted back, kicking a shadow back down and punching another out of existence. He heard Crypto mumble something involving the word 'idiot' under his breath, but decided against acting offended in favor of keeping the rising number of shadows at bay.

With so many of them climbing over each other, fighting to be the first to the top. That made keeping them back surprisingly easy, for the better part of maybe a minute before they some of them caught on that coming for them directly wasn't going to work. From both sides, one or two shadows began to appear, one of them dead set on trying to take him out, while the other had eyes on Wraith and Crypto.

"NO!" Mirage couldn't move fast enough to get to that other shadow in time. Its animalistic speed brought it before them in less than a second, and with the shadow in front of him, he couldn't turn to face them in time to help.

He didn't need to, when the sharp sound of a triple take cut through the shadowy screams and three bullets pierced through the shadow's body.

Mirage punched away the shadow at his side and didn't even bother to check if it actually died before looking up to find Wattson, with Doc tending to her leg wounds at her side. Three more rounds sounded, followed by three ghostly screams somewhere further down the cliffside.

He stepped back as more shots pierced through the darkness, crouching down beside Wraith and Crypto just as he pulled the med kit from her arm. While it was still bent at its unnatural angle, she was now able to curl her fingers a little before flinching, which was a helluva lot better than before.

"Are you alright?" He asked, gently taking hold of her wrist and urging her to push it forward just the slightest bit, "Can you try stretching it?"

The hiss she let out indicated no.

"I won't be able to phase or fight like this," She said, gripping her shoulder so tightly her nails dug into the material of her shoulder guard.

"I'm reloading!" Wattson's voice echoed over the edge, followed by the heavy metallic click of her mag being replaced.

Even for the few seconds she stopped shooting, some shadows were quick to make it up onto their ledge. By the time she was able to shoot them again, enough had made their way up and spread out enough to where she couldn't shoot all of them in time, and Mirage and Crypto could only take on one or two at a time without any of their own weapons.

"Dammit dammit, shit-" Mirage kicked away another, "What the actual FUCK is going on?"

There were too many. Five more made it onto their ledge, and more were coming, surrounding them. Blocking their view. Searing yellow eyes, on fire and piercing through the dark, closing in on them. Closer, closer, screams and moans and growls filling their ears. Mirage didn't know what to do. There wasn't anything he could do. Crypto was backing up, Wraith was frantically searching for a way out, eyes glowing, searching, trying to find a path that wasn't the one they were on. There was too much going on, Mirage couldn't keep up, couldn't think over the screaming, over the roars, over the sound of Lifeline's care package.

What?

"MOVE IT WITT!" Mirage didn't have to be told twice before he was diving out of the way, just as the care package crushed the multitude of shadows that managed to climb their way onto their ledge. Wisps of smoke and darkness and screams filled Mirage's eyes and ears for a second, before they disappeared to reveal the care package sitting snug before them. Lifeline's head poked over the edge, and a wicked smile grew across her face at her care package actually working.

"Ha! Go'n climb up before more start com'n!" She shouted, Wattson rolling over and aiming down at the incoming shadows from below.

They helped Wraith scramble up first, then Pathfinder pulled her up and Crypto shortly after. Mirage took the opportunity to quickly open the care package, then silently cheering to himself when a he was greeted with the purple glimmer of a body shield.

"Hurry up, Witt! Geuleol sigani eobseo!" Not bothering to look at what else was in there, Mirage hauled himself on top of the care package and took hold of Pathfinder's outstretched hand, letting himself get yanked onto his ledge by his inhuman strength.

"Hi friend!" The screen on Pathfinder's chest lit up with his signature yellow happy face. For once, Mirage was actually not irritated to see it.

"Hey buddy," He couldn't stop the small smile that spread across his lips at the jovial MRVN's robotic voice. Seriously, he never thought that smiling robot would be a reason for him to feel any sort of relief. The robot points off in the distance, and when everyone looks, they see he's pointing toward one of the larger buildings at Swamps.

"Swamps has remained vacant for most of the match! I would know, I was there!" He said, and without even asking, curled his robotic fingers into a fist and shot out his grapple, staking it just outside the wooden porch in front of the door. "Get ready! It's zip line time!"

Somehow, as they took turns going down the zip line, it seemed that the excess of shadows had calmed down, for the most part. The ones that hadn't been crushed or killed off earlier mostly just lingered at the bottom of the mountain, or off to the sides of the care package, some of them even regarding it curiously. Mirage distantly wondered if they were keeping their distance for now just because they were waiting for reinforcements. Did it even matter? By the looks of it, they would just die and come right back. Maybe there was more to it than they were letting on. Maybe dying hurt, like getting respawned did.

He shivered at the thought once they made it to the house and cut the zipline. Path and Mirage entered first, scoping the area out first before letting everyone else quickly follow in. The moment the door shut behind them, most of them collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, while Wattson went straight to fencing up all the entrances (mostly with the help of Crypto who... somehow knew how to help her with the fences. Was that weird? Mirage thought it was weird).

"So where were did you end up, Path?" Mirage asked as he watched Lifeline take hold of Wraith's arm to get a good look at it. Doc hovered around her, his little healing tubes of wonder already finding where to latch into her arm. "It looks likes those portals sent everyone everywhere."

"I found myself in Skull Town when I ran into Gibraltar and Bloodhound," Path's monitor blipped over to the blue sad face, "But we were separated shortly after running into the shadows. I hope they're okay. I saw a lot of friends on the way here."

Mirage had to resist flinching at the mention of Gibraltar, and resist thinking about the face he saw through the door back in Hydro Dam.

"I'm sure they're fine..." The monitor flipped back to his signature yellow.

"You think so, friend?"

"Mirage, Path, I think you should see this." Wraith's voice urged the two of them to turn in her direction, and then promptly redirect their sights on what was outside.

Through the electrical gaps of Wattson's fences, the group could see the blazing yellow glow of eyes against the blue around them. All around the house, there were shadows. From the sounds of the banging and scratching on the roof, Mirage had to guess they were up there too.

"What the high flying fuck is going on here?"

"I am really hoping Wraith's portal just knocked me out again..."

"All of us, though? Don' sound too likely."

By the looks of it, none of the shadows actually seemed interested in trying to get in. They mostly just loomed, snarling and slamming at the walls occasionally, hands reaching in through openings to try and grab whoever was within range. With the amount of them that were surrounding the house, the group would probably be able to take them all on at once. They probably knew that, which was most likely why they hadn't decided to try and break in.

Yet.

That was when Mirage noticed how unbothered Pathfinder seemed. Well, outside of the fact that he can't express much emotion- but the happy face on his chest sort of gave that away.

"You seem oddly chipper about all of this- more so than usual," Everyone turned to face Path as his chest turned to a green exclamation point.

"That's because this game is meant for fun, friend!" He exclaimed, giving them a thumbs up and almost skipping in excitement.

"Game!?" Lifeline and Mirage screeched.

"Fun?" Wraith and Crypto said at the same time.

"Haven't you heard the announcer?" Path pointed to the ceiling, as if he were right there, "We've been brought here to participate in his version of the Apex games, isn't that exciting?"

"Uh, no? I don't remember signing up for this."

"Wait," Wattson jumped in, and for a second, Mirage actually forgot she was even there, "If this is just a game, then does that mean we should be eliminating each other as if we are not on the same team?"

The room went silent for a couple of moments.

"Do you... think that's why the shadows are dead set on getting us? Last one standing wins?" Mirage asked, and now the gears were really starting to click. That would explain why they hadn't run into anyone else, or why everyone was coming back as shadows. Wraith shifted uncomfortably, Pathfinder's screen turned into a question mark, and Crypto started looking paranoid.

"Well the rules weren't exactly explained to us..." Lifeline glanced out the window, "He tell ya anythin else Path?"

"He also warned me to fear the shadows, which was very nice of him, but some of them were friends, so that was quite difficult to accomplish."

"So we're pitted against each other, and whoever's left gets picked off by shadows. Great," Mirage tiredly rubbed his face, "Not to mention the ring's closing and we're outside of it."

"I wish we knew if there was anyone else left," Crypto was starting to look antsy, antsier than usual, and Mirage couldn't help but notice the way he was keeping his distance.

In fact, everyone was keeping their distance, it seemed like. Everyone was eyeing each other, not necessarily as if they were about to start something, but more like they were worried someone else would instead. Mirage himself was actually starting to feel a little uncomfortable.

That was when a dark chuckle suddenly cut through the silence, enveloping the room with a heavy vibration they could all feel in their cores.

"You know what this match needs?" The announcer asked, almost mocking.

Everyone's transmitter made a sound, and when Mirage opened his mini-map to see what changed, there was suddenly a new marking, at the center of Swamps and where the ring was closing. There was also a little image off in the corner that looked like it was supposed to represent a person, and there was a number 10 beside it.

"A game changer."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol so thanks to the trailers I was under the impression that the shadows had red eyes. Generally, when playing the game, that was the last thing I was trying to get a close look at unless I was gunless and felt like throwing hands.
> 
> Also I'M SO SORRY IT'S NOT EVEN HALLOWEEN AND I'M POSTING THIS. I know it's late and most likely no one cares but I already started this and like heck I was gonna just leave the story on such a lame cliffhanger.
> 
> I'm shit at writing dialogue guys I'm sorry. Action and random thoughts are more of my thing that's why I generally dig writing quieter characters despite Octane being my fav.
> 
> Some notes, as per my new usual:
> 
> \- One of my favorite things to do as a shadow was climbing up after Pathfinders that thought they were safe on top of cliffs. They should know better.
> 
> \- I'm also aware you can't do half the things I've been doing with Path's zipline but imagine if you could! Imagine just shooting someone with your zipline and just killing them. That'd be funny as hell I'm not gonna lie, also, imagine just cutting ziplines when they try to run or zipline to you, or using it and then cutting it so you can't be followed. I'm sure someone toxic would find some way to make that a bad thing though. (*Coguh* I'd zipline over cliffs and lava flows then cut pissy teammates off)
> 
> \- I'm often referred to as the good luck charm on my squad because while I'm not really that great at Apex, my presence can generally just... turn tides sometimes. Apparently I'm lucky that I almost always have purple shields in my care packages. Like, is that not common for some people?? Also I can clutch if it's me versus the last person standing, especially when I'm lifeline. Fast heals save lives. Bleed, patch, and keep movin!
> 
> \- I sincerely apologize for not knowing how to properly write Lifeline. Impersonating is one thing but I... can't... write dialogue... to save my life...


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, yes, I'm 100% aware this took me over an entire year to finish, and I know this chapter feels rushed, because it IS. I have absolutely NO idea why I have such a difficult time committing to a story once I've started it, but hey, it's DONE. FINALLY. I can do other things without stressing about this one!
> 
> There's absolutely no italics or editing for this chapter, because I've truly given up. I am SO sorry it probably won't be that great of a read but at least it's finished. There's so many other things I wanna write, especially now with so much that's happened lately story-wise. I just hope I don't lose the inspiration to work on them like I have this one.

"Two people died just now," Mirage announced when he saw the number on his mini map drop from 10 to 8 in less than a second. He couldn't help but notice the way the heads of the shadows all snapped in one direction, looking somewhere far off, almost as if they knew exactly where those two other legends died. Maybe they did know? Maybe they actually did have some sort of hive mind.

They had been talking about how they were going to get out of the house and over to the new location that'd been marked for them. They assumed that was what they were supposed to do, at least, considering that was about the clearest waypoint for them outside of staying out of the ring and keeping away from the shadows. Shit, Mirage was starting to be less sure if they were even supposed to survive or not.

"Bloodhound and Dr. Caustic are still alive somewhere."

"How do you know that?"

"Le regard," Wattson pointed at the corner of her map, which she had been studying closely ever since their newest destination appeared, "You can see there are two trackers not very from us, over by the Wetlands."

Crypto looked a little closer at the little trackers, apparently seeing something that Mirage couldn't from where he was standing not very far behind her.

"Those are their insignias."

"Oui, and they are not far. Perhaps we can find them before the shadows do."

"That's implying the shadows won't kill us first." Wraith chimed in, nodding toward one of the open windows where a few of the creatures were reaching in through the boards. Nobody was standing too close to the sides of the building, fearing the shadows would lunge at them the moment they were in range.

For some reason they... weren't trying to break in. They were just standing there, for the most part.

"Can we use your portals?" Lifeline asked from her post on the second floor, not taking her eyes off the fence post separating her from the open roof. Wraith shook her head.

"I don't think I can even phase with my arm like this," She gripped her bandaged wrist, lightly hissing at the contact her fingers made with the sensitive area, "Maybe if my tech hadn't broken."

"An EMP blast?" Mirage suggested.

"That only slows them down, and it'll attract more. We don't have the ammunition or the numbers to take them all on at once."

"How about a zipline, friends?" Path's thumbs up and smiley face normally would've been a mood booster, but...

"Zey could just cut it again," Natalie's face dropped to her hands as Pathfinder's face turned sad. Her voice was muffled when she spoke again, "I don't... know what to do."

It was frustrating. The shadows were too fast, too strong, and too many to just downplay as a threat. They were smart, too. Well, not really smart. Bright was a better word. They could think. They couldn't plan, though. Not together, it looked like. Maybe their hive mind let them see what was going on around the map, but their thoughts, whatever thoughts they had, remained their own.

Wait.

They could think.

"What if..." Mirage broke the silence, causing everyone to turn to him.

"What if I distracted them?"

"What if you... how?" Wraith's head tilted with the question, incredulously, but the look in her eyes implied something else. Like she knew exactly what he was going to say and was daring him to say it. Or not to.

"Those things are clearly intleli- in, teli... they can think for themselves. In some sense. But they also seem way more into chasing than planning, so..."

"So you want to use your decoys?" Crypto stood up, "That... doesn't sound like a terrible idea."

"They're still much faster zen them. What if they catch the decoy before we can leave?"

"Then we'll need a further away distraction." Mirage finger-gunned with one hand toward Wattson, "And I know just the way to do it."

"No way." Now everyone turned to Wraith.

"Why not? I just lead em one way with a decoy and then cloak and run off somewhere far off the other way and BAM... boozled. It'll be a huge bamboozle. Easy to pull off, they won't even notice I left."

"But they'll definitely notice something's up. We can't risk them scattering and trying to break in." Wraith crossed her arms.

"But we can't risk staying in here the whole time either." Mirage crossed his arms too, "It's either we die to them or we die to the storm, and frankly, dying to the storm seems way more embarrassing than dying to them."

"You're more worried about looking embarrassing than getting ripped to shreds?"

"I'm just saying a heroic death by angry shadow monsters sounds way cooler than death by standing still for too long."

"To be fair, I would rather not sit and wait to be burned alive either." Wraith shot Crypto a glare, and he backed off instantly, holding his hands up slightly in surrender. She glared back at Mirage.

"There has to be another way."

"Yeah, well, when you think of it let me know. I'm gonna take my chances."

"Mirage." He ignored her as he walked over to one side of the building, the one with the least amount of shadows, and kicked open the door as loudly as possible. Garbled snarls sounded all around the building.

"Elliot-" Mirage felt bad for ignoring her, but it was pretty evident nothing else was gonna work, and they were running out of time. He sent a copy of him running straight out into the night, and the shadows were quick to chase after it.

He stepped out just a few moments after, when he was sure most of them were preoccupied with his decoy, and waited until one of them leaped and slashed straight through it before activating his cloak, sending out even more of him as he disappeared and sprinted off for the hills.

There was confused screeching from the shadows behind him, but it didn't sound like any of them had caught on to where he went, even after he climbed the ramp and uncloaked. He glanced back at the house everyone was bunkered in, checking to make sure the shadows were still preoccupied with lingering there instead of following him as he tried to come up with a battle plan.

He came up with maybe half a plan when this unbearable, uncanny chilling feeling crawl up his spine. Like he was suddenly being watched.

That feeling turned to sheer terror when the feeling very suddenly shifted from being watched to getting his back slammed into the ground just as he turned around to try and investigate.

Immediately, he was met with searing yellow eyes, and claws holding him down by his throat and burning into his skin like fire. The inhuman strength of the shadow forced him to still, although Mirage wasn't sure if it was as much of it strength as much as it was the sheer terror that coursed through his veins the moment he recognized the way its fiery eyes weren't quite as big as the others, almost as if it were wearing a pair of goggles.

The shadow pinning him to the ground was Octane.

It screeched at him, like some animal, right in his face and he could feel the molten-like spit shoot out from its mouth. Mirage couldn't bring himself to move, either from the uncanny fear upon recognizing who was pinning him down, or because of the unnatural strength pinning him down altogether. Its claws had moved from his shoulders to his throat, using its strength to squeeze the life out of him, but also completely freeing his arms.

With his vision quickly fading and lack of bloodflow to his brain, one of Mirage's hands balled into a fist and swung at Octane's head, but it was caught mid swing with such surprising speed that he felt the heat from his hand liner for a moment before it faded away. The shadow snarled at him, almost in a mocking way, like it was thrown off by Mirage's audacity to try and strike it.

He tried again anyway, this time with his other fist, and once again the shadow was quick to block him with its wrist, releasing the pressure it had on its throat but, at the same time, still having a free hand to strike at him, because it simply pushed Mirage's hand away swung its claw back, ready to end him right then and there.

And that was when an axe dug into its arm, effectively throwing it off its target immediately and forcing it to rear back and screech in undeniable pain as intense yellow blood gushed from the newly opened wound.

Without a word, a figure shoved themself into Octane's shadow before it could try anything new, taking the axe and yanking it from its arm, splattering the near-glowing blood everywhere as they drove the axe into it again, this time in its chest, forcing another scream out of it before they turned it toward the edge and kicked it off the axe, and over the cliff.

Its distorted scream echoed down the cliffside, all the way until it hit the ground and silenced instantly.

Mirage was frozen in place. Well, not really frozen. His heart was just beating so fast that he felt moving would just be too much for it at the moment. He barely even noticed the way his savior had walked before him, reaching one hand out while the other held their axe, its dark metal glinting in the moonlight and revealing the raven's head on its opposite end.

"Your time is not over yet, felagi," Mirage took their outstretched hand and allowed them to pull him up to his feet. He brushed off the bit of dirt that had managed to cling to the backs of his arms (thankfully not his hair as well) and let himself release a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Thanks, Hound," Mirage breathed, watching as they cleaned the blood off the axe on their arm and hanging it back in place on their belt. Bloodhound just nodded in acknowledgement, turning to face Swmaps and gesturing to the building that shadows were still crowding around.

"Have the skuggaskrímsi prevented your team from escaping the swamp home?"

"The-? Yeah! Some of em are hurt too bad so I came out to try and-" Mirage caught himself mid sentence, "Wait, how'd you know they were-"

"Our locations have been revealed to the other survivors of this match," Bloodhound checked the map on their transmitter and showed it to Mirage, who decided to remember just a second before that Wattson had already told him about the insignias, "An evacuation location hapt been revealed as well. I presume that is where we must go in order to escape."

From what he could see, five of the eight remaining insignias were bunched together at the building Mirage had left them in, his and Bloodhound's were not very far off to the side, up on the cliff they currently stood at. There was another insignia marked not very far from them either, up on the same cliffside as them, but further down and closer to Swamps. In fact, it was close enough that instead of trying to remember who's it was, Mirage just looked over at the supposed spot where the other surviving legend was standing, only to see no one was there.

Or so he thought, until he caught the glint of a canister being thrown under the moonlight, with sickly green smoke spewing from one end as it arced toward the building with the other surviving legends.

Mirage was given maybe two seconds to process that Caustic was not only alive, but straight up just chucked one of his gas grenades so far that it landed just outside of the house, where most of the shadows has clustered up after attacking his decoy, and even from where they stood Mirage could hear their ghostly screams as the gas worked its frighteningly effective magic.

That was also the moment when that same bone-chilling, heavy gong that replaced the ring closing chime sounded, alerting everyone that their time for standing around was up.

"Come, we must make haste," Bloodhound nudged Mirage, urging him toward the evac ship.

"But what about everyone else? They're still waiting!"

"You must trust them to move on their own. We will not have time to make it if we wish to beat the skuggaskrímsi there. Look." They gestured toward the sky, where Mirage could see the numerous streaks of red and the walls of the ring closing in.

"Shit."

"Come." Now they pulled him a little harder, and Mirage had no choice but to go, but not without one last glance at the building.

Through the last few remnants of gas fading into the night, he saw Pathfinder's head- or optic, or whatever- poke out through one of the doors, before making a motion for the rest to follow before holding the door open for the rest of the team to follow.

Mirage let out a breath of relief.

And then he sucked it right back in when four shadows landed on the roof right as they got out, and pounced right on Lifeline before she even got the chance to react.

"NO!" With absolutely no way of helping from where they were at, Mirage was forced to watch as Lifeline was crowded around and torn apart be about three shadows, while more landed on the roof and the ground behind the group.

Wraith was the first to turn around, eyes widening at the sight, almost freezing in place. It was a moment of hesitation, but it was enough to not only separate her from the group, but to let some shadows get between her and them as well. By the time she realized her mistake, there were already three or four in her way.

Crypto was the second to turn around, see Lifeline, then see Wraith about to follow the same fate, and pass Wattson off to Pathfinder before running back to help.

Bloodhound had to grab Mirage to get him to move again, which was much smarter than staring like he was, because there was no way he was going to be able to help from where he was, and there was also no way the two of them were going to survive if Octane's shadow were to come back and lead more to them.

So he ran after them, following their lead and occasionally glancing over at Swamps, where the evac ship was already in sight and landing close to the edge of the drop off. Path and Wattson were right on it, Path grappling them up to the opening doors despite Wattson trying to pull herself from his grip.

Mirage knew it was a bad idea. He knew it, but he looked back anyway, just as they were descending another set of stairs closer to the ship, seeing the absolute sheer amount of shadows surrounding Wraith and Crypto.

They looked like they were struggling, more so now as more and more of them kept flying in, some keeping their distance, others taking their chances and landing right on top of them. One managed to dig its claws into Crypto's side, another went for Wraith's leg. The more that came, the closer the ones already there pushed in, and eventually, Mirage could see the look on their faces when both of their guns were out, and they were sitting ducks.

"RENEE!" Once again, Bloodhound had to stop Mirage from trying to run after them, because now they were so much closer to the evac ship and even though Mirage there was no way he'd be able to save them, he couldn't stop himself from turning around, from trying to push Bloodhound away, despite seeing the two of them getting overrun, disappearing under the mass of shadows that were so occupied with them that there were almost literally none to block their access to the dropship.

"Mirage, we cannot go back for them," Bloodhound's voice was saddened, but the mask sort of kept that from completely coming through.

"It is too late to attempt a rescue." They had to physically put themself in his way and shove him back with enough force to turn him back toward the dropship, "We have no time. We must leave now, flýttu þér!"

"But-!"

"Now!" Mirage always knew Bloodhound was strong, but he never really had any firsthand experience with it, not until right now, when they shoved him hard enough to quite literally push him off his feet, and shove him back far enough that he had to take a few steps to catch his footing. He didn't fall, luckily, because in the few moments it took him to catch himself, some of the shadows that were around Crypto and Wraith managed to catch sight of them, then shrieked in their direction, alerting more to the last survivors of the match.

"They have been lost, félagi, we cannot dwell on them! I will not ask you again!" There was a shift in their tone this time, one that implied they were serious. Well, more serious now. As much as he wanted to turn back, to ignore the logic part of his brain screaming at him to make a run for it, to at least check if there were even banners to go back for, he turned away, and followed Bloodhound for the evac ship.

Behind him, the echoes of screaming shadows were rapidly catching up to them. Mirage could hear his heartbeat in his ears, feel it in his throat with every breath he took. Far off to his sides, he could see more shadows, running on all fours and easily keeping up with him and Bloodhound. He could see the familiar glint of goggles on one, the flash of glasses on another, a bun on the head of one of the bigger ones.

He wasn't gonna make it. There was no way he was gonna make it. Bloodhound was way faster than him, and they weren't even at full speed. The evac ship was low enough to the ground to climb up if he made the jump, but at the speed he was going versus the shadows, they'd probably catch him if he were too slow to make the climb. Heck, they'd probably catch him before he even got there.

No time to dwell on that now.

He just had to keep running. Ignore the shadows at his heels. Approaching at his sides. Flying in from above.

Don't look. Just run. Keep running. Don't stop. Don't think.

He heard a snap at his heels. Something slam against the ground to his side.

Bloodhound was already there. They made the leap easy enough, pulling themself up without any help, before turning around and reaching a hand out to help Mirage up.

Just a couple extra steps. He could make it. He could make it.

He could-

One last step. One quick jump. He almost caught their hand.

Until one of the shadows managed to snag him on his lower back, completely throwing off his trajectory and causing his hand to slide against Bloodhound's who tried to reach further out to catch him with both hands, but couldn't make it without falling out themself.

He felt a claw dig into his side, another at his leg, pulling him down. It pulled him away from Bloodhound's outstretched hand and down into the growing sea of shadow monsters very rapidly crowding below the ship, which was already beginning to rise in preparation for takeoff.

For a brief, terrifying moment, Mirage thought this was the end.

Then there the telltale clink of a metal grapple, followed by said grapple latching to the front of his suit. There was a slight, almost comical pause, where even the shadows had to take a moment to process what just happened, before Mirage was suddenly yanked from their claws and up to safety at the edge of the ship.

Bloodhound's hands were the first to take hold of his the moment he was in reach, hauling him up enough for Pathfinder to grab his shoulder with one mechanical hand and pull him in the rest of the way.

Seconds after his butt hits the metal floor of the evac ship, the doors close, and he feels he feels them take off, finally getting away from whatever horrible nightmare this was. He lets out a long, absolutely drained sigh as he leans back on his hands as he closes his eyes and lets his head fall back as well.

"That could not have been any worse."

"Oui..."

The sadness in Natalie's voice prompted Elliot to open his eyes and look up at her, seeing the way she was huddled in a corner and looking worse than she sounded. Pathfinder's chest also wasn't its signature smile, instead replaced with a crying blue one. Bloodhound, and even Caustic, despite their masks, also seemed a little more solemn than usual.

And then it suddenly hit him.

"Oh, fuck," He brought his hands up to grab the sides of his head, needing a moment to really process what just happened.

They were the only survivors. Out of, what, sixty people? Only five of them made it. For one, arguably blissful moment, he'd forgotten about everyone else, even Wraith, and the thought of what he saw, what it must have felt like to get completely ripped apart by a dozen shadowy monster things. Mirage wasn't even sure if they were alive. He wasn't entirely sure he was alive. He wasn't even sure where this ship was even going.

Hey, wait a sec. Where were they going? He still had absolutely no idea if they were even in an actual game or not, or if they were even on the same planet.

The ship rocked aggressively, forcing a less than dignifying sound to escape from Elliot's mouth that he immediately prayed no one actually heard.

There weren't any windows, so Elliot couldn't look outside to see what the hell was going on around the ship. It rumbled, and shook, not quite as bad as before, but he could feel this dropping sensation in his stomach, as if he were falling. They were landing, and it took forever, but with one final shake, and a less than gentle collision, they were on the ground and still.

A hint of tension rose at the silence. Elliot picked himself up, taking a step away from the door as it rumbled and hissed, signifying it was about to open. He made a move to grab for his gun, but noticed it had completely disappeared.

When did they-?

The door suddenly split, across its center, slowly opening and revealing an intensely bright white light that Elliot had to look away from for a few moments until the doors fully opened. When his eyes were finally able to adjust to the new lighting, he let them flutter open, hand shading most of the light from getting to his eyes. Nat was doing the same at his side, struggling to open her eyes in the new environment.

Tons of nurses in white were tending to wounded in rows lined against the walls, going down a long white hall that really hurt to look at with how bright it was. Most of them looked like they were struggling to sit up, others struggling to even open their eyes. The place looked like it was a sort of makeshift med bay, except it was so makeshift that there weren't even any curtains to separate the beds from each other, and there hardly seemed to be any medical supplies, outside of what was currently being used on the legends that needed it.

One of those legends was sitting in one of the beds closest to the ship, and upon seeing Elliot, she quickly pushed away the nurse that was checking on the sling for her recently healed and reset arm.

"Elliot!" Renee stumbled forward, still recovering from literally dying less than a few hours ago. Her legs gave way faster than she probably hoped, causing her knees to buckle not even two steps toward him. Luckily, Elliot had already been making his way off the ship, and he managed to rush forward and catch her before she could completely lose her footing.

"I thought you'd died when the shadows pulled you back off the ship!" She cried into his cheek, voice muffled against his skin but still loud enough to hear over the fussing of the nurses. Her good arm was wrapped around his neck, her hand keeping a firm grip on the back of his head and keeping him held down in her one arm hug. The other arm was getting crushed between them, and Elliot had to be the one to push her away just enough for her arm to breathe after hearing her wince from the pain.

"Aw c'mon, you think I'd let a bunch of shadow monsters mess up my hair?" He mumbled cheekily, not exactly trying to be cocky but hearing her scoff against his neck anyway.

"I don't know how you did it but I'm so glad you're alive. Dying isn't fun, and neither is regenerating."

"You don't say?" Both Renee and Elliot visibly flinched at the intrusion of the new voice, having completely forgotten for a moment that they were in a room entirely filled with people. Very angry people, if Chara was one of the ones to go by, limping over to them as another nurse was trying to urge her back to her bed.

She had visible claw marks across her face and limbs, not looking nearly as gashed up as Elliot assumed they originally were, but still in the process of healing. One of her eyes looked bloodshot, with a gash over it that definitely looked like it was gonna stay, even past the healing process, and Elliot had to stop himself from looking too hard at it in fear of upsetting her. That, seemingly, wasn't going to be a problem, seeing as she was going right for Renee.

"YOU," She pointed an accusatory finger right at her, "Left me to fucking die at Hydro Dam!"

"It was either you or you and everyone else," Renee said, pulling away from Elliot so she could properly look at Chara, who was practically fuming, "I'm sorry. If I could have I would've-"

"Oh no no, no need to apologize, I got you back by breaking your arm anyway."

"So you could think and act for yourself." Elliot said, causing Chara's rage to shift in his direction.

"Of course we could! Every time you killed one of us we'd know exactly where it happened, that's why we were able to find you all so easily."

"That wasn't exactly obvious knowledge at first." Crypto said from his bed across the room. Chara's attitude went from downright hostile, to something a little more on the irritated side at the sound of him. She didn't even bother to look in his direction, just rolling her eyes and grumbling something under her breath that didn't sound english.

Now that Renee wasn't death gripping him in a hug, he could properly see and pay attention to the other familiar legends, like Crypto, who was sitting on the edge of his bed with bandages on his face and arms, Natalie sitting awfully close beside him. A few beds down, Gibby was just coming to, bringing a hand up to hold his head as he looked around in confusion. Across the room, Ajay and Silva were sitting in their own beds, various tubes and bandages across their bodies and one of Silva's legs gone, facing each other and chatting about who knew what.

Elliot actually had a few questions to ask a few people, starting with what was up with Nat and Crypto, before he actually noticed that their attention, and everyone else's, had turned to a couple of people who had walked in through a side door not very far from them, stepping right into their spot and forcing Elliot and Renee to take a couple of steps back to avoid being walked into.

The woman, wearing a lab coat and hair tied back so tight it looked like it hurt, and a smile that didn't entirely look like it was for them, spoke first.

"Congratulations, legends!" She said far too enthusiastically, outstretching her arms like she was welcoming someone into a hug, although Elliot was pretty sure that wasn't the case. In fact, he was actually pretty sure that he had no idea who this even was.

"Today's match was a complete entertainment success! Our viewers loved the show you put on for our promotional event and are excited to see every single one of you in the next Shadowfall battle royale! All medical expenses for today's game have been covered, so those of you who died early on will have no insurance coverages to worry about!"

There was a brief moment of silence, followed by a cough from someone far back in the room.

"What?" The woman seemed surprised by the brashness of the question. Surprised enough that she didn't respond immediately, and the man with the clipboard beside her spoke up instead.

"Today's match was a promotional game, meant to excite the viewers, and especially sponsors. The guys in charge decided we're gonna start hosting holiday-themed events, on top of promotional events like the Iron Crown, so we can gain more popularity and, hopefully, sponsors."

There was another long pause, this time not followed by a cough, but by the sudden harmonization of tens of voices combined.

"What?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes as I was writing
> 
> \- Back in the first Shadowfall event, did you ever play Mirage and do anything involving your decoys and just watch the shadows HOUND them down? I didn't play Mirage often (I was stubbornly trying to win as Wattson) but when I did, BOY was that fun.  
\- Mirage refers to Gibraltar as Gibby and no one can convince me he doesn't. I swear I'm not referring to him like that just because. He already called Crypto 'Cryppy' anyway, so, y'know. It fits. To me.  
\- If I had actually finished this fic back in its intended time then it would make sense, but it's supposed to place during the first Shadowfall, which was the first really big holiday event we got.  
\- I refer to the Iron Crown, and any event like that really, as a promotional even because c'mon, that's exactly what it is. I've put so much money into Apex it's not even funny anymore. (Got my heirloom though X3)


End file.
